Rains wash away MCD claims
New Delhi, August 21
The second heavy rain in the Capital today once again poured water on the tall claims of the civic authorities.
The Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD), which had announced even before the beginning of monsoon to have cleaned 98 per cent of Delhi’s drains, is clueless about the problem.

Sudden downpour causes waterlogging and jams in New Delhi on Friday.
— A Tribune photograph

Roads clogged for hours
New Delhi, August 21
The entire national Capital remained jammed for over five hours after the heavy downpour this afternoon. Massive snarls were seen from 5 to 10 pm. Commuters had to walk kilometres to reach their destinations.

Delhi plunges into darkness
New Delhi, August 21
The heavy rain in the Capital not only brought zero visibility on the roads but also inside the houses, as power supply was badly affected in many parts of the city.

ICICI Bank booked for
circulating fake currency
Gurgaon, August 21
The Gurgaon police has registered an FIR against a south Delhi branch of the leading private sector ICICI Bank on the charge of possessing/using counterfeit currency notes as original ones.

Cousin kidnapped minor girl
New Delhi, August 21
The police has rescued a seven-year-old girl who was kidnapped from Khanpur on Wednesday. Two persons, including the girl’s relative, have been arrested. They have confessed to the crime.

Swine Flu: Doctor’s presence must in functions
Noida, August 21
In view of the increasing cases of swine flu, the district administration has asked people and social organisations not to hold any public function unless the presence of a doctor is ensured for the occasion.

Rs 10,000 crore for Delhi
New Delhi, August 21
The Planning Commission on Friday approved Rs 10,000-crore plan outlay for Delhi for the 2009-10 fiscal.
The annual plan for the Capital was finalised in a meeting between Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit and Planning Commission deputy chairman Montek Singh
Ahluwalia.

Crime File
Farmer shot at in Gt Noida
Greater Noida, August 21
A farmer guarding his farm in Alauda Jagirpur village under Dankore police sation was shot at and wounded by criminals on
Thursday evening.

An activist from the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA), dressed up in a dog suit, gives a lesson on animal birth control at Jantar Mantar in New Delhi on Friday. Tribune photo: Manas Ranjan Bhui

48 birds set free
New Delhi, August 21
As many as 48 birds that had been caged for the last five years due to the ongoing proceedings in a 2004 case were finally released in the open sky today when the Tis Hazari district court directed

Soumya Case: Accused denied bail
New Delhi, August 21
The Patiala House district court today dismissed the bail application moved by Baljit Malik, one of the accused in the murder case of TV journalist Soumya Vishwanathan.

New Delhi, August 21
The second heavy rain in the Capital today once again poured water on the tall claims of the civic authorities.
The Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD), which had announced even before the beginning of monsoon to have cleaned 98 per cent of Delhi’s drains, is clueless about the problem.

“We have been cleaning the drains and desilting stormwater channels. Still there are reports of waterlogging, especially in low-lying areas. We have deployed teams in places where there are problems,” said the mayor.

Some parts of south Delhi and east Delhi roads were jammed beyond belief. Thousands of people were stuck in jams as traffic signals snapped due to heavy rains. The outer and inner ring roads also saw huge waterlogging.

“It takes only half an hour of rain to make hell of this city. Not raining is a problem but raining in Delhi is a bigger problem,” Aniesh Yadav, resident of Saket.

Many vehicles broke down on waterlogged roads after rain water entered their engines. “Many roads were under knee-eep water. Even hours after the rain stopped, roads were still under water because the drains were choked. The traffic lights are not working in many areas,” said a businessman while going back from his work.

Roads caved in many parts of the city resulting in torture to the motorists and bikers.

New Delhi, August 21
The entire national Capital remained jammed for over five hours after the heavy downpour this afternoon. Massive snarls were seen from 5 to 10 pm. Commuters had to walk kilometres to reach their destinations.

People hiding under shades of bus stops, metro stations and office verandas, rushed just after it stopped raining.

Anil Sharma, who lives at Mayur
Vihar, said he had to walk from ITO to his residence as the traffic was not moving. “It was totally jammed. Many two-wheelers and cars were seen parked on road sides due to technical snags,” said Anil who took two hours to reach his home.

Another victim of the rain was Maisra Malik who said she had to wait for one and half hours at Sunder
Nagar. Traffic was standstill. Finally, she decided to walk from Sunder Nagar to
Okhla. She started walking at 6 pm and reached Okhla Mor at 8 pm. She encountered waterlogging at
Bhogal, Jangpura and Ashram Chowk. At Jangpura she had to walk in knee-deep
water.

Jangpura is always waterlogged when it rains but the authorities do not make any permanent arrangement. They should have booster pump to discharge logged water in drain, Malik suggested.

New Delhi, August 21
The heavy rain in the Capital not only brought zero visibility on the roads but also inside the houses, as power supply was badly affected in many parts of the city.

The power companies received several complaints of trees falling on electricity cables. The high velocity winds carried away the cables and electric poles resulting in long-hour power cuts. “Most of the complaints received by us are of trees falling on power lines,” said one of the BSES officials.

The officials of the company said power transmission also broke down due to increase in moisture, leading to short-circuit in some of the areas.

However, they said the supply would be resumed by late evening as the workers had already been put to repair work.

“We have put our electricians on work and they will be working for extra hours to ensure that the error is corrected,” he said.

Meanwhile, heavy rains also led to the caving in of a major road in the heart of the national Capital. Portions of the Raisina Road, right next to the Central Secretariat Metro station, collapsed. However, no one was injured in the incident.

The crater formed as a result of the caving in was around 10 metre in depth and six-metre wide, eyewitnesses claimed.

Gurgaon, August 21
The Gurgaon police has registered an FIR against a south Delhi branch of the leading private sector ICICI Bank on the charge of possessing/using counterfeit currency notes as original ones.

According to sources, the case under Section 489-B of the IPC had been registered with the Gurgaon police on the basis of a complaint lodged by Inderjeet Sachdeva, a resident of C-block in ICICI Bank booked for circulating fake currency

Vasant Kunj, New Delhi.

The complainant maintained that she withdrew Rs 4.5 lakh from the Vasant Kunj branch of ICICI Bank on August 8, 2009. Later, she deposited Rs 4.15 lakh in a Gurgaon branch of State Bank of India.

Sachdeva then went for shopping at the Ambience Mall in Gurgaon, for which she took along Rs 23,000.

But when she made the payment at the mall, the person at the cash counter pointed out that there were counterfeit notes in the bundle.

Sachdeva then brought the matter to the notice of the Gurgaon police, which has recovered counterfeit currency notes worth Rs 5,500 from the complainant.

“We are investigating all possible angles to find out who is responsible for the fake currency. It is however, astonishing how a leading bank could allow circulation of counterfeit notes from its branch without proper checking,” said a senior police official.

New Delhi, August 21
The police has rescued a seven-year-old girl who was kidnapped from Khanpur on Wednesday. Two persons, including the girl’s relative, have been arrested. They have confessed to the crime.

The police said a distant relative of the girl planned the abduction. He was demanding Rs 5 lakh for her release. The accused have been identified as Vikas Sethi (23) and his associate Shahid (22).

DCP HGS Dhaliwal said Akshita (7) had gone missing while she had gone for tuitions in her neighbourhood. Her mother Neesah approached the police after which she received a ransom call.

The suspects were traced at Vishwas Nagar in Shahdara. It was learnt that Neesah’s sister also lived at Vishwas Nagar.

“When Neesah said the caller had threatened that any of her relatives should not deliver the ransom, we got suspicious that some relative might be involved,” said Dhaliwal.

Akshita’s cousin Vikas came to her house yesterday and told Neesah that while he was coming two Nepali persons stopped him and asked him to get the ransom immediately or they would kill Akshita.

“On sustained interrogation Vikas broke down and confessed to have kidnapped Akshita to solve his financial problem. Akshita was rescued at his instance from Shahid’s barber shop,” said Dhaliwal.

The police said Vikas had started a business but failed. His financial condition was not sound and was running in debt. He got the idea from the film ‘Apharan’ and used Mumbaia language while making ransom calls. Moreover, he kept a track of the proceedings by being in close contact with the victim’s family.

The second accused Shahid is a barber and wanted to open a beauty salon. So he too joined hands with Vikas.

Noida, August 21
In view of the increasing cases of swine flu, the district administration has asked people and social organisations not to hold any public function unless the presence of a doctor is ensured for the occasion.

“Many people these days are suffering from swine flu-like symptoms, and at public gatherings there is a greater chance of infection. It is the responsibility of the organisers to have a team of doctors at the function site, without which no function will be allowed,” said additional district magistrate O.P. Arya.

Meanwhile, a workshop on dispelling myths on swine flu was conducted at the Government PC College in Sector-39. College principal C.S. Khanna and two lecturers, R.K. Gupta and D.C. Sharma, advised students not to panic by the media hype. They also advised students not to shake hands.

They also advised students to drink a mixture of tulsi and haldi, which is an effective antidote to all kinds of germs. Yoga expert R.P. Bhatia advised students to do breathing exercises to clear the air passage of any virus.

Later, the college students took out a rally with placards carrying information on symptoms and prevention of swine flu.

12 new cases in Delhi

Delhi today reported 12 fresh positive cases of influenza A (H1N1), taking the cumulative figure of people afflicted by the viral infection to 384. Besides, the process of roping in the private sector into the diagnosis of H1N1 samples has been stepped up.

Among the new cases, eight are admitted to Dr Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital and two each are being treated at Army Base Hospital and Lady Harding Hospital

According to the Delhi health department, out of the total number of people having contracted the viral disease, 345 patients have been discharged after medication.

A 24x7 helpline with number 42565555 has been started by the city health department and it has been receiving a huge response.

Keeping in mind the increasing number of calls, the number of attendants at the helpline would be increased from Saturday to facilitate better assistance to the city people, said health minister Kiran Walia.

The process of shortlisting private laboratories for testing of H1N1 samples is in final stage and four labs have been given testing samples to establish their capability.

Noida, August 21
The traffic situation in front of the group housing societies in Sector 50 is chaotic, though the road is two-way and about 50 m wide.

As the overhead high tension electricity cables are hanging too low, one half of the road is not being used Vehicles keep away from the area because of the fear of these high tension wires. Moreover, half of the the road is blocked with construction material meant for the nearby drain.

“Due to the low-lying power cables, the road is out of use,”says Sumit
Dudha,resident, Sagar Presidency.

“We fail to understand why Noida Authority officials or the Uttar Pradesh Power Corporation Limited
(UPPCL) are not doing anything in this regard despite numerous complaints by the
RWA,” he says.

“Since the traffic moves both ways on a narow road, chances of accidents are high”, says A.M. Kumar of Palm Grove.

“Moreover, even one side of the road cannot be fully utilised for movement of traffic since a major portion of it is used for parking vehicles by visitors who come to these housing societies,” he adds.

“Pulling up the electricity cables is not such a big task but both the UPPCL and the NA are least bothered,” says Sumati Maharishi of Alok
Vihar.

New Delhi, August 21
The Planning Commission on Friday approved Rs 10,000-crore plan outlay for Delhi for the 2009-10 fiscal.

The annual plan for the Capital was finalised in a meeting between Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit and Planning Commission deputy chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia.

“A plan outlay of Rs 10,000 crore has been approved for the current annual plan. However, it has been assured that additional funds, if required, for the 2010 Commonwealth Games (CWG) would be released at an appropriate stage,” an official statement said.
— IANS

Greater Noida, August 21
A farmer guarding his farm in Alauda Jagirpur village under Dankore police sation was shot at and wounded by criminals on
Thursday evening.

The farmer has been admitted to government hospital in Bulandshahr.

Talib (30) of Bilaspur, who has a garden and a farm in Alauda Jagirpur and Harmoti villages, respectively, was gaurding his farm when three miscreants fired at him. The bullet hit Talib in the stomach. When neighbouring farmers heard the gun shot, they came running to Talib's rescue, after which the assailants sped away.

Talib was rushed to a local hospital, from where, he was referred to Bulandshahr government hospital.

When contacted, the police denied having any knowledge of the incident.

Robbery bid: Youths fired at

In another incident of shooting, when their attempt to loot failed, criminals shot at two youths in Girdharpur.

The youths, however, managed to escape to a nearby village and save their lives.

Sonu and Vineet were going to Bilaspur village from Greater Noida on their bike when near Girdharpur some criminals, who were hiding in the bushes, tried to block their way. When the two tried to flee, the criminals started firing on them.

However, luckly, the shots missed them and the two fled to a nearby village to take shelter. The villagers then informed the police on phone. However, when asked, the police denied hving any knowledge about the incident.

New Delhi, August 21
As many as 48 birds that had been caged for the last five years due to the ongoing proceedings in a 2004 case were finally released in the open sky today when the Tis Hazari district court directed

the wildlife department to set them free.

The birds were 540 in number but due to some unknown reasons almost 90 per cent of them died and the rest were given freedom.

This case is of 2004 where two accused, Mohasin Ali and Mohommad Shafiq, allegedly hunted birds around the Jama Masjid area. The police arrested them on August 8, 2004.

When the birds started dying in large number, the investigation officer in this case applied an application to the additional chief metropolitan magistrate (ACMM), Sunil Chowdhary, that the authority concerned cannot take care of these birds and so they should be released, confirmed a court official.

Acting on this application, the magistrate sought the case and set the birds free today. While the birds were being produced in the court, five of them died, confirmed sources.

Hence, only 48 out of the total 540 fled to their homes after having been caged for almost half a decade.

New Delhi, August 21
The Patiala House district court today dismissed the bail application moved by Baljit Malik, one of the accused in the murder case of TV journalist Soumya Vishwanathan.

The additional chief metropolitan magistrate (ACMM) Kiran Bansal said, “In view of the totality of the facts and circumstances and the offence for which the accused has been booked, I am not inclined to admit him on bail.”

The ground on which Malik’s bail application was dismissed was that the allegations against him and other four accused – Ravi Kumar, Ajay Shukla, Amit Kumar and Ajay Sethi— were very grave. Moreover, the case is in its initial stage and hence Baljeet was denied bail, said court officials.

The counsel for Malik had argued that the police had finished its investigations and the custody of the accused was not required now.

The chargesheet against the accused was filed on June 22, almost 6 months after the murder.

All the accused have been charged for murder, criminal conspiracy and intention to commit robbery.

The accused have also been booked under the Maharashtra Control Of Organised Crimes Act.

New Delhi, August 21
A 22-year-old woman was allegedly raped by her landlord in the Mandawali area of east Delhi last night.

Surjeet Singh (32) raped the woman who had been staying with her mother for the past six months after some problems with her husband.

“The woman was sleeping alone in the room while her mother and siblings were sleeping on the terrace. Finding her alone, Surjeet barged inside and raped her,” said a police official. He added Surjeet fled after the woman started screaming for help.

“Her medical report has confirmed rape and we are trying to nab the culprit,” he said.

New Delhi, August 21
Three persons have been arrested for loot and murder at Vikaspuri in West Delhi.

According to the police, the three identified as Mithun (20), Sandeep (19) and Manish (19) were apprehended last night for killing a shop’s peon at Lal Market in the Vikaspuri area and looting around Rs 1.5 lakh on August 5. The three are from Delhi.

The shop’s peon had caught the three red-handed and tried to raise an alarm. As a result, they killed him.

Rs 45,000, an iron safe and an iron rod used for killing the peon have been seized.